That is quite reasonable why a person might get a thought of starting its own online gambling business. It brings much profit, especially nowadays when online related industries are at the top. Just like the huge yearly revenues of online casinos, one has to spend the big sums of money for the business launch.
Gambling business requires many responsibilities and attention. The known stereotype about casinos that they are always cheating impose additional obligations on the casino owners. They have to license their business activity, get special certificates and constantly prove that they are safe and fair.
This ‘proof’ costs money which you as a potential owner need to pay at the very beginning. All the licenses, certificates and security technologies are the first instruments that you have to think of before you start. Not a single high roller or even a regular player will make funds into an ‘unknown’ casino without an official license.
Registration
However, in order to receive a license you need to accomplish several steps. First one is to create the company according to the laws of the country that allows running online casinos. They are usually small countries like Malta, Costa Rica, Gibraltar or it can be the UK, by the way. The company registration cost varies. In the UK it’s 550 euros, in Costa Rica you would have to pay almost 3,000 euros. However, Gibraltar and Curacao don’t take charges at all. So, let’s take the average cost of the registration of a legal entity – $1,000.
Gambling platform
The site content is the most important. It’s the face of the online casino. The real money attractive games are what people come for to the online casinos. Basically, you need to make a deal with at least one software provider and have a minimum of 500 games in your casino lobby. Nevertheless, the more games and providers, the more customers. The price is different again. It varies from $10,000 to $150,000. It depends on the provider reputation and amount of games you purchase. Mind that you will have to pay commission from each game. About 15% from one game revenue goes to the provider. Averagely, you could pay about $50,000 for games including commission.
Licensing
Finally, you can apply for the license. This step allows you to host servers and represent casino games worldwide (where they are accepted by laws, of course). Generally, the licensee is based in the same country where you registered your casino business. Accordingly, the price varies. For example, in the well-reputed Malta you can get the MGA license for about $18,000 + the same for annual fee, in total over $35,000. In Costa Rica you’ll pay totally $50,000. Besides, the license doesn’t last forever. It’s issued for several years. On average, 6 years is the expiry date. So, let’s assume that the first licensing costs $50,000 including the cost itself and annual fee.
Website development
Your casino site should be, first of all, clear and easy to navigate. Whenever a visitor enters the site, he or she must understand what the casino offers: games, bonuses, banking options, support, security and etc. Clarity, transparency and availability of all website options. The whole development of the website costs from $10,000 to $50,000. Though we can’t deny additional losses. Let’s take $50,000 for the website development stage.
Marketing
This step is necessary for all businesses. In order to let people know about you, you need a marketing plan including advertising, SEO content and affiliates. Your minimal marketing losses can be $20,000. However, it doesn’t make much sense as it pays off quite a little. For the good profitable marketing system you can pay $100,000 and even $200,000 monthly. Additionally, you will have to pay a fixed sum and sort of 20% commission to the partners that brought you clients. All in all, for the advertising stage we have approximately $100,000 a month which annually is $1,200,000.
Casino maintenance
Here you should include, first of all, salaries for your staff. It should be a whole team of specialists in the fields of design, web development, security service, support, sales and marketing, finance and copywriting. In addition, you will have to maintain the site and its security system annually. The total cost of this all will be about $500,000 a year. It depends on the salary amounts you can afford, of course.
Payouts guarantee
This is a specific amount of money you save in the bank as a guarantee that you are able to give payouts to your players. It can’t be used for taxes and other expenses. This is a necessary fund, and its minimum depends on the registration country. It will cost you about $100,000.
Total calculations
If we consider each expense given above, the online casino site costs $1,951,000 at the start. Still, you have to understand that this sum is not exact. In reality you may pay more or even less. Anyway, considering all the necessary and additional expenses, you need to have at least $2 million in your account to open and maintain the casino site during one year. With an excellent marketing plan you can compensate for the losses during a couple of years, or even less period of time.
